Helping Change the Odds for Children with Leukemia: The Ethan Van Leuven Matching Gift Challenge

Ethan Van Leuven was first diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) when he was just 22 months old. Thanks to standard cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, his cancer initially went into remission. Unfortunately, unlike 85% of children diagnosed with ALL who achieve remission with no recurrence, Ethan’s cancer roared back.

Ethan’s parents held out hope that a new cancer treatment would help him reach remission once again. In November 2013, he was given an experimental drug, cranial and full-body radiation, and a bone marrow transplant from his little brother. Tragically, Ethan relapsed. Just a month before his fifth birthday in 2014, he passed away—but not before his family and neighborhood joined together to celebrate Halloween, Christmas, and Ethan’s birthday early.

Ethan’s story touched people worldwide—one of whom was inspired to set up a matching gift fund through Huntsman Cancer Foundation. Noting that an 85% survival rate is not good enough, the donor urged all to help change the odds for children with leukemia in hopes that 100% survive. Thanks to Ethan and our very generous community, $500,000 was raised in honor of Ethan Van Leuven to support pediatric cancer research at Huntsman Cancer Institute.

You can make a difference in the fight against cancer. Learn about ways to give through Huntsman Cancer Foundation.